Kariya’s Goal Downs Ducks

The Mighty Ducks got their first look at the NHL’s measure to eliminate regular-season ties Saturday night, and they couldn’t have had a worse feeling as the Nashville Predators prepared to make their third attempt in the shootout.

As goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere readied himself in the net, up stepped none other than Paul Kariya, the Ducks’ all-time scoring leader and onetime favorite son.

With the crowd on its feet, Kariya put an end to the tightly contested game as he sent a wrist shot past Giguere to give the Predators a 3-2 victory at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Kariya played nine seasons in Anaheim, teaming with Giguere for four seasons and helping lead the Ducks to the 2002-03 Stanley Cup finals, before leaving to play for the Colorado Avalanche.

“I’ve made thousands of dekes against Jiggy over the years,” Kariya said. “I had a bit of an idea. I made a little fake five-hole and then put it upstairs.”

Giguere said he was expecting to see the Predators’ star right wing after both teams had missed on their previous attempts.

“I’m sure it’s a big goal for him against his old team,” Giguere said. “He’s tough on the breakaway. Power to him. Next time, maybe I’ll stop him.”

The last shootout attempt Kariya made with anything on the line decided an Olympic gold medal; he was stopped by Tommy Salo in 1994 at Lillehammer to lift Sweden past Canada.

“For five or six years, I didn’t sleep very good after that one,” Kariya said with a chuckle Saturday. “I think it would have been a lot worse if we didn’t win the gold in 2002.”

The Ducks could take some solace in picking up another point for sending the game into overtime after defeating Chicago in their opener.

But although the shootout is a hit with fans, coaches and players aren’t exactly warming to the concept of deciding games in that manner.

“When you lose a shootout, you feel like you’ve lost the hockey game,” Duck Coach Randy Carlyle said. “We didn’t lose the hockey game. We lost a point and they gained a point.”

Nashville picked up two points as a result of Kariya’s goal.

Petr Sykora saw to it that the Ducks came home with three points on the two-game trip by tying the game at the 13:19 mark of the third period.

The Ducks broke out on a three-on-two rush with Teemu Selanne passing to Sandis Ozolinsh, who fed a rushing Sykora on the left flank. The forward snapped a shot past Tomas Vokoun to finish off the play. Selanne’s assist gave him 500 for his career.

“It was awesome,” Sykora said, adding that Ozolinsh “just kind of pushed it to the side for me and I had a semi-breakaway. I know that goalie pretty good because we’ve hung out together last year a lot.”

The Ducks had a chance to win in the final minute of regulation, but Nashville defenseman Mark Eaton swept the puck out of the goal crease with his hand while diving on the ice as Rob Niedermayer tried to poke in a rebound.

Each team had five shots on goal in overtime. Giguere and Vokoun each made 33 saves.

“We showed some character here tonight,” Carlyle said. “We started very well, we had a mediocre second period and we had a goal [against us] early in the third, but then after the 10-minute mark we kind of dominated in a lot of ways.”

The Ducks controlled much of the first period and their hard work paid off when Samuel Pahlsson put in a rebound of a Corey Perry shot at the 7:31 mark. Yanic Perreault scored both goals for the Predators, with his second coming 37 seconds into the third to break a 1-1 tie.